A Chef Built The World's Largest Gingerbread Village In His Bronx Apartment [PHOTOS]

By day, Jon Lovitch is the executive sous chef at the New York
Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. But by night, he's the creator
of what has become, officially, the largest gingerbread village
in the world.

"GingerBread Lane" is
on display at the New York Hall
of Science in Queens now through mid-January, but preparation and
construction is actually a yearlong process. Lovitch has
dedicated about 1,500 hours of work to the village since
February, baking each individual structure separately and storing
them in an empty bedroom in his South Bronx
apartment.

And working on the festive project gives him a good break from
his day job.

"Very little you prepare as a chef can last beyond a few days,
and the products have to be as fresh as possible," Lovitch said
to Business Insider. "Stuff with [GingerBread Lane] hits the
floor, it's still used. If product breaks or has issues, I just
reuse it. Also the taste with GBL is not relevant. At all. Only
the smell."

Courtesy of GingerBread
Village

The display gets some pretty entertaining reactions from
visitors, many of them small children.

"They just stare in amazement, and wonderment," he said.
"It's pretty flattering."

After all of that hard work, disassembling the village will be
tough, but visitors who happen to be there may get a treat.

"[It's] gutwrenching, makes you almost cry. When I go that
day,I stare at it for an hour or more, just stare. Then finally
force myself to tear it down," he said. "If there's a big crowd
to take a piece home, the giveaway — it makes it so much
easier."